Ambrose Lavendale, Diplomat. E. Phillips Oppenheim

was taken by a young lady just before one o'clock, at our head office,' the man told him. 'With regard to the other suites, sir——'

      'Could you tell me the young lady's name?' Lavendale interrupted.

      'I haven't heard it yet,' the man answered shortly. 'With regard to the other suites——'

      Lavendale slipped a coin into his hand.

      'Thank you,' he said, 'there is no other suite in which I am interested for the moment.'

      He stepped out. Almost on the threshold he met Miss de Freyne, face to face.

      'Are you coming,' he asked, raising his hat, 'to take possession of your new abode?'

      She was entirely at her ease. She looked at him, however, a little curiously. It was as though she were trying to make an appreciative estimate of him in her mind.

      'I suppose,' she observed, with a little sigh, 'that we are playing at cross-purposes. You are an American, are you not, Mr. Lavendale?'

      'I am,' he answered.

      'German-American?'

      'No!'

      'English-American?'

      'No!'

      'What then?'

      'American.'

      'Tell me exactly what that means?' she insisted.

      'It means that my sympathies are concentrated upon my own country,' he answered. 'Those prefixes—German-American or English-American—are misnomers. Wherever my personal sympathies may be, my patriotism overshadows them. Now you know the truth about me. I am an American for America.'

      She sighed.

      'Yes,' she murmured, 'I had an idea that was your point of view. I am a Frenchwoman, you see, for France.'

      'Our interests,' he remarked, 'should not be far apart.'

      'If I were sure of that,' she declared, 'the rest would be easy. I am for France and for France only. You are for America, and, I am afraid, for America only.'

      'Chance, in this instance,' he ventured, 'has at any rate made us allies.'

      'I should like to feel quite sure about that,' she said. 'If you are not busy, will you walk with me on to the Embankment?'

      They strolled down the narrow street and found a seat in the gardens.

      'Between thieves,' she continued, looking him in the face, 'there is sometimes honour. Why not amongst those who are engaged upon affairs which, if not nefarious, are at least secret? Let us see whether we can be allies, and, if not, where our interests clash. You know perfectly well, as I do, that Jules murdered that little chemist from Chicago and stole the formula. You know very well that the suite in which you take so much interest in the Milan Mansions, belongs to Jules. You know very well that he was arrested there a quarter of an hour after he left the hotel, and that he had had no time to dispose of the formula. You know that the place has been searched, inch by inch, but that the formula has not been found.'

      'I have just arrived exactly as far as that myself,' Lavendale assented mendaciously.

      'You are some time behind me, but it is true that we have arrived at the same point,' she continued. 'Now the question is, can we work together? What should you do with the formula if ever it came into your possession?'

      His lips tightened.

      'I cannot tell you that,' he said firmly.

      'I believe that I know,' she went on. 'Well, let me put you to the test.'

      She opened a black silk bag which she was carrying, a little trifle with white velvet lining and turquoise clasp. From a very dainty pocket-book in the interior she drew out a crumpled sheet of paper, covered with strange, cabalistic signs. She smoothed it out upon her knee and handed it to him.

      'Well,' she exclaimed, 'there it is! Now you shall tell me what you are going to do with it?'

      His hand had closed over the piece of paper. He gripped it firmly. Before she could stop him he had transferred it to his own pocket. She shrugged her shoulders.

      'You had better return it to me,' she advised.

      'I shall not,' he replied. 'Forgive me. I did not ask you for the formula—I did not know you had discovered it—but since I have it, I want you to remember that it was the discovery of an American and I shall keep it for my country.'

      'But your country is not in need of anything of the sort,' she protested.

      'I will be so far frank with you as to explain my motive,' he said. 'A few months ago I was attached to the American Embassy here. I have been attached to the Embassy in Paris, and for two months I was in Berlin. I have come to certain conclusions about America, in which I differ entirely from the popular opinion and the popular politics of my country. England has been living for many years in great peril, but there have been many who have recognized that. The peril of America is at least as great, and has remained almost altogether unrecognized. We have no army, a small navy, an immense seaboard, wealth sufficient to excite the cupidity of any nation. And we have no allies. We make the grave and serious mistake of ignoring world politics, of believing ourselves outside them and yet imagining ourselves capable of protecting the interests of American citizens in foreign countries. That is where I know we are wrong. I have resigned from the Diplomatic Service of America but I remain her one secret agent. I intend to keep this formula for her. She will need it.'

      Suzanne de Freyne shook her head.

      You will not be able to leave the gardens alive with it,' she assured him.

      He glanced at her incredulously. Her smooth face was unwrinkled. She had the air of looking at him as though he were a child.

      'You are in the kindergarten stage of your profession,' she observed. 'Now watch. You see those two men seated on the bench a little way further down?'

      'Well?'

      She rose from her seat, shook out her skirt and sat down again. The two men, also, had risen and were advancing towards them. She held up her hand—they seemed somehow to drift away.

      'I repeat,' she went on, 'that you would not leave this garden alive. But, my friend, we will not quarrel over a worthless scrap of paper, for that is precisely what you have carefully buttoned up in your pocket-book. I have failed to find the formula. That is a dummy. Keep it, if you will. There isn't a single intelligible sign upon it.'

      He drew it from his pocket and glanced at it. Even with his slight knowledge of chemistry he was compelled to admit that her words were truth.

      'Keep it or give it me back, as you like,' she continued. 'It has no value. The fact remains that in his brief journey from the service room at the Milan Grill-room to his rooms in the Milan Mansions, Jules managed to conceal somewhere or other the paper which he has taken from Hurn. If he passed it on to some one else, it is by this time in Germany, but we have reason to know that he did not. The paper is still in concealment. It is still to be found.'

      'And the means?' he asked.

      She shrugged her shoulders lightly.

      'Alas!' she exclaimed, 'how can I tell you now? How can I even engage your help? You have disclosed your hand.'

      He sat gazing gloomily out at the river.

      'Very well,' he decided at last, 'let me help and I will be content with a copy of the formula.'

      She smiled.

      'That is rather sensible of you,' she said. 'To tell you the truth, I require your help. For reasons which I need not explain, we do not wish this matter to be dealt with in any way officially. I am in perfect accord with the English Secret Service, but we do not wish to have their men seen about the Milan Mansions. To-night, Jules re-enters into possession of his rooms. I offer you an adventure. It is what you wish?'